Joseph Esmilla started violin and music lessons at age five with his father Sergio Z. Esmilla, Jr. and was also mentored by his father’s esteemed colleagues, Oscar C. Yatco and Basilio Manalo. At 14, he was granted a scholarship at The Juilliard School where he eventually received his Bachelors and Masters of Music degrees under the tutelage of Dorothy DeLay, Masao Kawasaki and Jens Ellerman. While doing post-graduate work in violin and chamber music with Felix Galimir at the Mannes College of Music, he won the concerto competition and performed the Bruch G minor concerto with the Mannes Orchestra under the baton of Yakov Kreizberg which was later broadcasted by WQXR in New York City. Subsequently, he pursued professional studies in violin and chamber music with Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley of the Guarneri Quartet. He participated in summer festivals and programs such as Aspen, Interlochen, Dartington and the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, where he was chosen to play the Tchaikovsky violin concerto for the culminating concert with the New Orchestra of Boston.

Through the years, he has been featured soloist performing concertos from the standard violin repertoire with the Philippine Youth, Manila Symphony, Philippine Philharmonic and Manila Chamber orchestras with conductors Basilio Manalo, Oscar C. Yatco, Sergio Z. Esmilla, Jr., Arturo Molina and Piero Gamba. He has performed in various capacities as a musician in the Philippines, USA, Germany, Austria, China, Malaysia and South Korea.

His extensive orchestral experience commenced at age 12 as an original member of the Philippine Youth Orchestra. As a young professional he became concertmaster of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, Detmold Kammer Orchester and was co-founder, concertmaster and associate conductor of the Manila Chamber Orchestra. As a free lance violinist, he has played with Millbrook Chamber, Baltimore Chamber, National Chamber, Philadelphia Virtuosi, Fairfax Symphony, Annapolis Symphony, Lancaster Symphony, and Baltimore Symphony orchestras. He was a member of the Harrisburg Symphony for nine seasons and has played concertmaster for the summer series. He was also a regular member of Shippensburg Festival Orchestra for seven seasons wherein he has also served as concertmaster. He has performed under the baton of distinguished conductors, Sergiu Commissiona, Sixten Ehrling, Alexander Schneider, James de Priest, Paul Zukofsky, Andreas Delfs, Andrew Litton, Joann Falleta, Gerhardt Zimmerman, Marin Alsop, Eiji Oue, Stuart Malina, Richard Westerfield, David Amado, Stephen Gunzenhauser, Leo Driehuys, Pedro Calderon, amongst others.

An avid chamber musician, he was the violinist of Triode, a piano trio with pianist Albert Tiu and cellist Sean Katsuyama, member of the Harrisburg Players Collective and has collaborated with distinguished musicians of the Corigliano, Dali and Kronos string quartets; violinists, Alex Kerr and Odin Rathnam, cellist Daniel Gaisford and pianist Stuart Malina, who is also the music director and conductor of Harrisburg Symphony.

To date he has recorded three CDs, a collection of violin encore pieces entitled Sentimyento produced by Bookmark Audio, Concierto para Trio for Northbranch Records as violinist of Triode and as featured guest artist on viola, Con Brio Records recently released Eaken Piano Trio + 1, a CD of Brahms and Schumann piano quartets.

As a conductor he has conducted season concerts of the Manila Chamber Orchestra, was music director and conductor of the Shippensburg University Orchestra and recently guest conducted the Manila Symphony Orchestra.

While maintaining an active concert career, he served as faculty member of the University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, Towson University, Elizabethtown College and Shippensburg University. His past students have been accepted to Peabody Institute, Boston Conservatory, Queens College, University of Washington, Temple University and Catholic University; many of whom have pursued successful careers in music in the Philippines, USA and South Korea.

Prior to coming home in 2008, he conducted the Shippensburg University Orchestra, collaborated with the Eaken Piano Trio, soloist in the Harrisburg Opera production of Lehar's "Paganini", soloist in Saint-Saens violin concerto with the Cleveland State University Orchestra, as violist performed Mozart’s Sinfornia Concertante with violinist John Eaken and the Shippensburg Festival Orchestra, and gave recitals with pianist Ariel Dechosa in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC.

Highlights of his recent musical activities in the Philippines include, Vivaldi “Four Seasons” and Philippine premiere of Korngold Violin Concerto with the Manila Symphony, chamber music concert in collaboration with pianist Rudolf Golez and cellist, Victor Coo to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the MCO Foundation, guest conductor of the Manila Symphony, solo appearance at the Shanghai EXPO 2010, Sibelius violin concerto with the Philippine Philharmonic, homecoming recital with pianist Rudolf Golez under the auspices of the MCO Foundation.